Birthday Mini-Update

Well, it’s August, the month I usually enjoy as my birthday celebration month. Since (historically) I didn’t allow myself to celebrate me, this month has been very important for me. I treasured my birthday and looked forward to August every year.

This last year, though, has been a whomper for me. I experienced a downward spiral of physical symptoms that made me take a serious look at how long I’ve ignored my body. Symptoms included: me being bedridden 2 weeks each month from fibroid-related blood loss, anemia, exhausion, dizziness every time I stood or took a walk even as short as to my bathroom, almost constant trouble sleeping and insomnia, alternating constipation/diarrhea, frequent daily hypoglycemic episodes, RLS, exercise intolerance, hair loss, foggy thinking and outright inability to focus or remember things I’d done just moments before… The list goes on and on. Even something as simple as taking a shower or making a phone call often proved prohibitively exhausting and not do-able. Work has been a complete “no” for the last year. How can I work when I can’t commute (for fear of a fibroid hemorrhage), can’t focus (from insomnia), am not reliable for appointments (I might crash and be sleeping from not sleeping the night before) and can’t remember what I did 10 minutes prior?

These last two months, while discovering that all of my symptoms (including my fibroids) are related to Adrenal Exhaustion, I’ve gone on a new custom healing protocol which includes a low-carb diet (hugely clearing, surprisingly), taking colloidal iodine to support my thyroid, taking very specific quantities of many supplements to stabilize my adrenal/cortisol activity, and taking varying quantities of turmeric to oppose estrogen dominance that lead to my fibroids in the first place, and more.

For the primary learning I got about the OAT axis imbalance (Ovarian, Adrenal, Thyroid) I must thank http://www.DrLam.com.

I’ve been on my custom protocol 3 weeks now, and have already experienced radical shifts in my body’s behavior – fewer and less severe hypoglycemic episodes, reduced menstrual bleeding (related to adrenal and cortisol spikes because of the hypoglycemia, as well as reduced clotting from high-level estrogen), increased energy (from the low-carb diet; also the daily supplements and high-dose vit c helped with this, although one should be careful about stimulating the body with vit c if they have adrenal fatigue), fewer hypoglycemic mood swings (I’m even feeling hungry before blood sugar crashes again, which was not true the last two months), and more. I’m even sleeping full nights again.

So for kicks I started a daily chart of energy levels and dietary intake, and have even noticed my first “honeymoon period” where my energy increased and then plateau’d. I even experienced my body telling me, “woah, saturated, back off on the supplements a day or two”, just as I had read – there are certain days during recovery from Adrenal Exhaustion where it’s actually worse to take supplements!

Exercise was also a factor. Out of guilt and out of presuming that my tanking energy and endurance was related to a too-sedentary lifestyle, I had been pushing exercise and yoga on myself even when I was feeling tired. As it turns out, this can precipitate another adrenal crash, which was precisely my experience. Now I know how to moderate my weekly yoga (flexibility), exercise (cardio) and strength training to match where I am at any given point in my week AND support the healing of my OAT axis.

Hopefully the daily attention to my body and the new protocol will continue to improve my health and allow me to return to a normally physical life again. I understand that people like me (recovering from Stage 3C adrenal fatigue) often require as much as 2-3 years to heal, and even then are required to be diligent the rest of their lives to avoid adrenal crashes and keep the body in balance.

I realize this is part of my whole-Self cleansing and healing; a microcosm of the global cleansing and healing we’re witnessing in humanity and on our planet.

I write all this to let you know where I’m at these days and in hopes that the content here (from fibroids to Adrenal Exhaustion, the OAT axis imbalance and Dr. Lam’s site) will help others who are also unknowingly suffering from fibroids, estrogen dominance, adrenal fatigue or adrenal exhaustion.

Maybe by my birthday next year I’ll have great news about my recovery!